Automated management of internet and/or web site content

ABSTRACT

An apparatus, program product, and method manage content from a content-controlled database (e.g., web pages or other files maintained in a web site) using a content management record linked to each content-controlled content item in the database. Each content management record is utilized in conjunction with a multi-stage content management process, where at least one stage is a review stage during which approval of an associated content item for a content management record is obtained. As a result of receiving appropriate approval, such an associated content item may be promoted and made available to users of the content-controlled database, with the content management record updated to reflect such a status of the associated content item. Content management information for a content item may be maintained in a content management record that is separate from the content item. Moreover, content management records may be maintained in a groupware-type environment, whereby collaborative tools such as document sharing and messaging may be used to facilitate the interaction among members of a content creation, development and management team during the various stages of a content management process. Furthermore, content management records may be monitored over time to provide for periodic review of promoted content items to ensure that content in a database is maintained current and accurate. In addition, multiple language and/or country versions of a content item may be linked together, such that changes made to one language/country version of a content item may automatically prompt a review of other versions to ensure that the changes are propagated to the other versions when necessary.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention is generally related to the management of electroniccontent, in particular, to the management of electronic contentorganized into a website and accessible via a network such as theInternet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The Internet has grown at a remarkable pace, and has become firmlyentrenched in nearly all aspects of society. Whereas the Internetinitially was limited to purely academic and government endeavors, theInternet has now become an important avenue of commercial activity, notto mention an important source of educational, commercial andentertainment-related information. Moreover, in addition to simplyoperating as a source of information, the Internet provides a mechanismfor bringing together entities from across the globe. As an example, forbusiness enterprises, the Internet provides the ability to interactelectronically with customers, as well as suppliers, distributors andother business partners.

An important component of the Internet is the World Wide Web, or simply“the Web”, which supports a client-server protocol where information isexchanged between end users (clients) and various interconnectedservers, predominantly in the form of Hypertext Transfer Markup Language(HTML) files (also referred to as documents or pages). HTML files ofteninclude or reference textual information as well as graphics, icons,images, sound, video, and/or executable programs. HTML files aretypically linked to one another via hypertext links, so that a userviewing one file can select a hypertext link in that file to initiatethe retrieval of another file. Often, related files, or files managed bythe same enterprise, are organized together into a web “site,” with therelated files generally stored on the same server or on a commonly-ownedgroup of servers.

As the Internet has grown more sophisticated, web sites have become morecomplex, comprehensive and extensive in scope. In addition, for abusiness enterprise, a web site has become somewhat of a “front door” tocustomers and business partners, such that a customer's or partner'sinitial impressions about the web site can reflect directly on how theyperceive that enterprise. As such, the quality, accuracy, completenessof the information, or “content”, presented on a web site, as well asthe functionality and navigability of the web site, can have asignificant effect on customer and business partner relations. As aresult, substantial resources are often expended in ensuring that thecontent of a web site is accurate, current, complete, and easilyaccessed.

Moreover, as with any published content (whether electronic ornon-electronic in nature), web site content can potentially expose anenterprise to significant legal liability. For example, marketing claimsmade on a web site can raise concerns with respect to false ormisleading advertising claims and improper disparagement of competitiveproducts or services. Moreover, certain information may be confidentialand not appropriate for general viewing on a web site, e.g., ifintellectual property rights are involved, or if the information iscovered by non-disclosure obligations to business partners or customers.Adequate safeguards therefore must often be implemented to ensure thatweb site content avoids unnecessary exposure to legal liability for anenterprise.

An example of a typical commercial web site might be a web site relatedto a line of server computers offered by an enterprise. On such a website, it would not be uncommon to find information such as marketing andproduct information, accessory, peripheral and software information,product support information, technical information, etc. In addition,such a web site may include executable programs available for download(e.g., patches and upgrades), user forums, and an e-commerce system thatsupports the purchase of equipment, accessories and software. Such a website may also include some mechanism for contacting an enterprise, e.g.,for customer support or sales issues. Some web sites of this nature mayalso include comparative advertising information that compares anenterprise's line of servers to those of its competitors.

Creating a web site of such a magnitude is often a daunting task, andtypically requires the collaboration of a number of authors that createcontent, web developers that format the content into appropriate HTMLdocuments with a consistent look and feel, and various managers andreviewers that ensure content accuracy, currency and compliance withlegal requirements. Particularly when a web site is related to a widevariety of topics, the various individuals involved in creating the website may require different backgrounds and expertise. Thus, for example,a web site regarding a line of servers might require authors, reviewers,etc. experienced in different fields such as hardware, software,marketing, technical support, etc.

Moreover, web sites are typically extremely dynamic in nature, and areoften updated with new content on a frequent basis, e.g., to incorporatenew product releases, new support issues, new pricing structures, etc.As a result, the content presented in a web site will typically be in aconstant state of flux.

Given the significant manpower resources required to create and update aweb site, management of a web site, in general, is often cumbersome andextremely manually-intensive. Given also the large number of individualsthat may be involved with various aspects of web site development andupdating, interfacing the various individuals to ensure that all contentis accurate and up-to-date is often haphazard and inefficient. To date,only a few automated tools, with rather limited utility, have been madeavailable to assist web site managers in managing the content in theirweb sites.

Therefore, a significant need exists in the art for a more structuredand automated manner of actively managing web site content, inparticular, to reduce management overhead through improved collaborationbetween the individuals involved in web site creation, development andmanagement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention addresses these and other problems associated with theprior art by providing an apparatus, program product, and method inwhich content from a content-controlled database (e.g., web pages orother files maintained in a web site) is managed using a contentmanagement record linked to each content-controlled content item in thedatabase. Each content management record is utilized in conjunction witha multi-stage content management process, where at least one stage is areview stage during which approval of an associated content item for acontent management record is obtained. As a result of receivingappropriate approval, such an associated content item may be promotedand made available to users of the content-controlled database, with thecontent management record updated to reflect such a status of theassociated content item.

In various embodiments consistent with the invention, content managementinformation for a content item is maintained in a content managementrecord that is separate from the content item, which allows for greaterflexibility when implementing changes in a content management process,and when managing content in different domains. Moreover, in variousembodiments, content management records are maintained in agroupware-type environment, whereby collaborative tools such as documentsharing and messaging may be used to facilitate the interaction amongmembers of a content creation, development and management team duringthe various stages of a content management process. In addition, incertain embodiments, content management records may be monitored overtime to provide for periodic review of promoted content items to ensurethat content in a database is maintained, current and accurate.

In additional embodiments consistent with the invention, multiplelanguage and/or country versions of a content item may be linkedtogether, such that changes made to one language/country version of acontent item may automatically prompt a review of other versions toensure that the changes are propagated as necessary. As such, variousversions of a document may be harmonized to ensure that content iscurrent and accurate across different regions or countries in the world.Given the ever-increasing globalization resulting from Internet-drivencommerce, the advantages of such harmonization are substantial.

These and other advantages and features, which characterize theinvention, are set forth in the claims annexed hereto and forming afurther part hereof. However, for a better understanding of theinvention, and of the advantages and objectives attained through itsuse, reference should be made to the Drawings, and to the accompanyingdescriptive matter, in which there is described exemplary embodiments ofthe invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a networked computer system incorporating acontent management system consistent with the invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a computer from the networked computersystem of FIG. 1, and incorporating a content management systemconsistent with the invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the content management system ofFIG. 2, and showing the various stages in a content management processconsistent with the invention.

FIGS. 4A-4C illustrate an exemplary content management documentconsistent with the invention.

FIGS. 5-10 illustrate suitable role-specific controls to be incorporatedinto the content management document of FIGS. 4A-4C respectively for anauthor, a topic reviewer, a developer, a legal reviewer, a contentmanager, and a promoter.

FIG. 11 illustrates the program flow of a hold agent in the databaseagent pool of FIG. 3.

FIG. 12 illustrates the program flow of a review agent in the databaseagent pool of FIG. 3.

FIG. 13 illustrates the program flow of an expiring agent in thedatabase agent pool of FIG. 3.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating additional international-relatedstages in the content management process of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments described herein utilize a unique content managementsystem to control user access to a content-controlled database. Contentmanagement records, typically separate from the content items beingcontrolled, are linked to the content items and updated during amulti-stage content management process to reflect the current status ofany associated content items. Within the content management process, atleast one stage incorporates a review process whereby approval of acontent item is obtained. Any approved content item is thereafterpromoted such that such content item is available to users of thecontent controlled database.

A content-controlled database may be implemented using any type of datarepository or group of repositories where it is desired to limit what atleast certain users of the repository are able to access. For example,in the implementation discussed hereinafter, a content-controlleddatabase is used to store information from a web site or collection ofweb sites that are accessible via the Internet, or alternatively, via anintranet, extranet, or other form of network. Moreover, acontent-controlled database need only limit availability of content to acertain class of users of the database, up to and including all possibledatabase users. For example, for a publicly-accessible web site, theusers that are limited to accessing the database may be persons thataccess the database who do not have heightened security rights (as mightbe had by developers, reviewers, or authors of the web site). It will beappreciated, however, that the invention may be utilized in otherenvironments, and as such, the invention is not limited to theparticular controlled-content web site implementation discussed herein.

Moreover, a content item in the context of the invention may include anytype of data structure (e.g., a document, a file, a page, etc.) capableof storing information utilized in a content-controlled database (e.g.,information formatted as text, images, graphics, sounds, videos, icons,animations and/or executable program code). Furthermore, a contentmanagement record consistent with the invention may be implemented asany form of data structure capable of being linked to one or morecontent items, and capable of storing information utilized in managingthe availability of such content items to relevant users. In theembodiments discussed hereinafter, content management records areimplemented as groupware documents that are linked via unidirectional orbidirectional links to associated content items. Furthermore, throughthe use of a groupware-type environment, collaborative tools such asdocument sharing and messaging may be used to facilitate the interactionamong members of a content creation, development and management teamduring the various stages of the content management process, with thegroupware-implemented content management documents utilized during thecontent management process to maintain appropriate content managementinformation such as status and the like.

As will also become more apparent below, dynamic management of contentitems may be facilitated through an automated monitoring process wherebycontent items are periodically scheduled for review after they have beenmade available to users, typically after a review date associated with acontent management record has been reached. Moreover, if a review is notcompleted within a set period of time, a content item may beautomatically demoted to a non-available status to restrict itsaccessibility to users after that period of time.

As will also become more apparent below, multiple language and/orcountry versions of a content item may be linked together, such thatchanges made to one language/country version of a content item mayautomatically prompt a review of other versions to ensure that thechanges are propagated as necessary. In particular, a mainlanguage/country content item may be linked to one or more child,secondary language/country items, with automated functionality used tonotify parties responsible for child content items of any changes madeto a parent content item.

Turning now to the Drawings, wherein like numbers denote like partsthroughout the several views, FIG. 1 illustrates a computer system 10consistent with the invention. Computer system 10 is illustrated as anetworked computer system including one or more client computers 12, 14and 20 (e.g., desktop or PC-based computers, workstations, etc.) coupledto server 16 (e.g., a PC-based server, a minicomputer, a midrangecomputer, a mainframe computer, etc.) through a network 18. Network 18may represent practically any type of networked interconnection,including but not limited to local-area, wide-area, wireless, and publicnetworks (e.g., the Internet). Moreover, any number of computers andother devices may be networked through network 18, e.g., multipleservers.

Client computer 20, which may be similar to computers 12, 14, mayinclude a central processing unit (CPU) 21; a number of peripheralcomponents such as a computer display 22; a storage device 23; a printer24; and various input devices (e.g., a mouse 26 and keyboard 27), amongothers. Server computer 16 may be similarly configured, albeit typicallywith greater processing performance and storage capacity, as is wellknown in the art.

In the embodiments discussed hereinafter, content management consistentwith the invention is typically implemented within a server-typecomputer such as computer 16, which may or may not be the same computerupon which is resident a web site or other content-controlled database.Client computers 12, 14 and 20 are typically the computers through whichusers interact with the content-controlled database, whereby if thecontent-controlled database stores a web site, the networks 18 typicallyrepresent Internet and/or intranet network connections. One or more ofclient computers 12, 14 and 20 may also be used by members of a contentmanagement team that control the content of a content-controlleddatabase, such that direct user input to server computer 16 may not berequired.

FIG. 2 illustrates in another way an exemplary hardware and softwareenvironment for an apparatus 30 consistent with the invention. For thepurposes of the invention, apparatus 30 may represent practically anytype of computer, computer system or other programmable electronicdevice, including a client computer (e.g., similar to computers 12, 14and 20 of FIG. 1), a server computer (e.g., similar to server 16 of FIG.1), a portable computer, a handheld computer, an embedded controller,etc. Apparatus 30 will hereinafter also be referred to as a “computer”,although it should be appreciated the term “apparatus” may also includeother suitable programmable electronic devices consistent with theinvention.

Computer 30 typically includes at least one processor 31 coupled to amemory 32. Processor 31 may represent one or more processors (e.g.,microprocessors), and memory 32 may represent the random access memory(RAM) devices comprising the main storage of computer 30, as well as anysupplemental levels of memory, e.g., cache memories, non-volatile orbackup memories (e.g., programmable or flash memories), read-onlymemories, etc. In addition, memory 32 may be considered to includememory storage physically located elsewhere in computer 30, e.g., anycache memory in a processor 31, as well as any storage capacity used asa virtual memory, e.g., as stored on a mass storage device 35 or onanother computer coupled to computer 30 via network 36.

Computer 30 also typically receives a number of inputs and outputs forcommunicating information externally. For interface with a user oroperator, computer 30 typically includes one or more user input devices33 (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, a trackball, a joystick, a touchpad,and/or a microphone, among others) and a display 34 (e.g., a CRTmonitor, an LCD display panel, and/or a speaker, among others).Otherwise, user input may be received via another computer interfacedwith computer 30 over network 36.

For additional storage, computer 30 may also include one or more massstorage devices 35, e.g., a floppy or other removable disk drive, a harddisk drive, a direct access storage device (DASD), an optical drive(e.g., a CD drive, a DVD drive, etc.), and/or a tape drive, amongothers. Furthermore, computer 30 may include an interface with one ormore networks 36 (e.g., a LAN, a WAN, a wireless network, and/or theInternet, among others) to permit the communication of information withother computers coupled to the network. It should be appreciated thatcomputer 30 typically includes suitable analog and/or digital interfacesbetween processor 31 and each of components 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36 as iswell known in the art.

Computer 30 operates under the control of an operating system 38, andexecutes or otherwise relies upon various computer softwareapplications, components, programs, objects, modules, data structures,etc. (e.g., operating system 38, groupware application 40, groupwaredatabase 42, content management application 44, content managementdatabase 46, web server 48, and web site content 50, among others).Moreover, various applications, components, programs, objects, modules,etc. may also execute on one or more processors in another computercoupled to computer 30 via a network 36, e.g., in a distributed orclient-server computing environment, whereby the processing required toimplement the functions of a computer program may be allocated tomultiple computers over a network.

In general, the routines executed to implement the embodiments of theinvention, whether implemented as part of an operating system or aspecific application, component, program, object, module or sequence ofinstructions will be referred to herein as “computer programs”, orsimply “programs”. The computer programs typically comprise one or moreinstructions that are resident at various times in various memory andstorage devices in a computer, and that, when read and executed by oneor more processors in a computer, cause that computer to perform thesteps necessary to execute steps or elements embodying the variousaspects of the invention. Moreover, while the invention has andhereinafter will be described in the context of fully functioningcomputers and computer systems, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the various embodiments of the invention are capable of beingdistributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that theinvention applies equally regardless of the particular type of signalbearing media used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples ofsignal bearing media include but are not limited to recordable typemedia such as volatile and non-volatile memory devices, floppy and otherremovable disks, hard disk drives, magnetic tape, optical disks (e.g.,CD-ROM's, DVD's, etc.), among others, and transmission type media suchas digital and analog communication links.

In addition, various programs described hereinafter may be identifiedbased upon the application for which they are implemented in a specificembodiment of the invention. However, it should be appreciated that anyparticular program nomenclature that follows is used merely forconvenience, and thus the invention should not be limited to use solelyin any specific application identified and/or implied by suchnomenclature.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the exemplary environmentsillustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 are not intended to limit the presentinvention. Indeed, those skilled in the art will recognize that otheralternative hardware and/or software environments may be used withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention.

Now turning to the specific groupware-based embodiment of a contentmanagement system consistent with the invention, FIG. 2 illustrates thata groupware application 40 and groupware database 42 are respectivelyused as the underlying operating environment for a content managementapplication 44 and content management database 46. In the illustratedembodiment, a groupware application such as Notes, available from LotusDevelopment Corporation, a subsidiary of International Business MachinesCorporation, is used to implement the underlying environment forproviding content management functionality. It will be appreciated thatone of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the instantdisclosure would be able to implement the herein-described functionalityin a Lotus Notes environment. Moreover, one of ordinary skill in the arthaving the benefit of the instant disclosure will appreciate that otherunderlying operating environments and applications may be used toimplement the functionality described herein. Moreover, any combinationof off-the-shelf and/or proprietary applications may be used toimplement such functionality, including various commercially-availablegroupware, electronic messaging, document management, knowledgemanagement, and database applications.

The content management system described herein is utilized to controluser access to content such as web site content 50 that is accessible tousers via a web server 48. In this context, control over the access tocontent is made by controlling what content is placed on apublicly-accessible area of a web site. More specifically, asillustrated in FIG. 3, a web site may be maintained on a series ofservers, including a test server 60, a staging server 62 and aproduction server 64. Typically, web site content such as a content file66 is initially stored by an author or other authorized person on a testserver 60. Then, using the content management system described herein,files are copied over to a staging server 62 (typically by a “promoter”or other entity with heightened security rights) once such files havebecome approved for being made available to other users. An automatedupdate agent 68 then periodically synchronizes staging server 62 with aproduction server 64 that is read accessible by all users. Typically,write access to the production server is restricted, with write accessto the staging server limited to a limited group of users. As such, anychanges made to a staging server will be automatically made to theproduction server once the update agent synchronizes the servers.

In the context of the invention, therefore, a content-controlled contentitem is “promoted” when it is made available for access by users forwhich access is restricted on non-promoted content items. Conversely,the description hereinafter may also refer to the concept of “demoting”a content item, which may incorporate removing the content item fromavailability. In the illustrated embodiment, promotion thereforeencompasses copying an item to the staging server, while demotionencompasses removing the item from the staging server. In otherembodiments, e.g., where no staging server is used, the copying/removingof an item from a production server may correspond to promotion/demotionconsistent with the invention.

It will be appreciated that the concept of a “server” in the context ofa web site may refer to one or more physical computers. Moreover, anyparticular server may also logically share the same physical hardware asanother server. Thus, the illustration of servers 60-66 as shown in FIG.3 is not meant to specify any particular hardware arrangement.

Now turning to an exemplary implementation of a content managementprocess consistent with the invention, FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplarycontent management record or document 70 stored in content managementdatabase 46 and linked via a bidirectional link 72 to one or more ofcontent files 66 stored on test server 60. A series of database agents74 are illustrated as operating upon database 46 to perform variousmonitoring functions for the content management system. Also illustratedis an author 76 and one or more country owners 78, each of whichrepresenting entities that may interact with the content managementsystem during the course of managing content consistent with theinvention.

A content management system consistent with the invention permitscollaboration between a number of entities that together may act as acontent management “team”. For example, an author refers to an entitythat creates a content item. In some instances, an author may alsoperform some development tasks, e.g., performing all or a portion of theHTML coding required for formatting the content item for inclusion on aweb site.

A reviewer refers to an entity that reviews a content item and eitherapproves or disapproves of the content item based upon such a review. Areviewer may be a topic owner who reviews content items associated withparticular topics, e.g., particular technology areas, business areas,marketing programs, etc. A reviewer may also be a legal representativeor manager who reviews content items for compliance with legalrequirements and/or to identify potential liability issues associatedwith content items, e.g., inappropriate disclosure of confidentialmaterial, advertising claims, products liability claims, consumerclaims, trademarks, etc. A reviewer may also be a manager who hasprimary responsibility for web site content, and whose responsibilitycan overlap multiple fields, including with respect to content, legalissues, formatting issues, etc. A reviewer may also be a country orlanguage owner who has responsibility for performing any of theabove-described review functions on behalf of a particular country,geographic region or language, particularly where a web site maintainssupport for content appropriate for different regions of the world.

Another entity is a developer, who typically is responsible forperforming any necessary formatting and/or coding of a content item soas to put the content item in suitable condition for incorporation intoa web site. A related entity, which may be the same entity or differentindividuals that share overlapping responsibility, is a promoter, who istypically responsible for adding, deleting and/or modifying contentitems stored on the staging server (assuming the update agent updatesthe production server accordingly).

Another concept relevant to content management as described herein isstatus, given that a status is maintained for every content item. In theillustrated embodiment, the following statuses are supported:

-   -   draft: content item not yet reviewed.    -   review: content item currently under review.    -   legal: content item approved by topic owner(s), currently under        legal review.    -   develop: content item has been reviewed and approved by legal        manager, currently awaiting HTML coding.    -   approval: content item has been HTML coded, currently awaiting        approval by web site content manager.    -   available—waiting for promotion: content item has been approved        by content manager and is ready to be immediately promoted to        “production” (i.e., copied to staging server and then to        production server in due course).    -   available—promoted: content item has been promoted.    -   available—hold: content item has been approved by content        manager and will be ready to be promoted to “production” once a        specified date and/or time is reached.

As discussed above, in the illustrated embodiments the contentmanagement process and all communications between entities remainseparate from the actual content that is being managed. This allows forgreater flexibility when implementing changes in the process andmanaging content in different domains (i.e., stored in differentdatabases). A document number or other identifier is assigned to eachcontent management document, which in this implementation is a LotusNotes document that contains content management information about thecontent file(s) (e.g., owner, topics, dates, etc.). In turn, much of thecontent management information is reproduced (as meta data) in everycontent item that is controlled by this document. Likewise, everycontent item filename is listed in the content management document. Assuch, bidirectional links are typically defined between contentmanagement documents and the content files. Unidirectional links, aswell as other linking mechanisms (e.g., pointers, numbers, UID's,tokens, look-up tables, etc.), may be used in the alternative.

The content management system monitors these content managementdocuments and alerts various entities when different actions arenecessary, thus ensuring the content managed by this workflow process iskept current and fresh. Within the workflow process, a number of stagesare defined, and are respectively illustrated in blocks 80-88 of FIG. 3.Block 80 is a create content stage, block 82 is a topic owner reviewstage, block 84 is a legal review stage, block 86 is a contentvalidation stage, block 88 is a content approval stage, and block 90 isa promote files stage where approved content is copied to the stagingserver.

An additional block 90 represents an additional stage in the workflowprocess, where HTML coding is performed, but which does not have aseparate status associated therewith (although a separate status couldbe used in the alternative).involve activities that typically occuroutside of the primary managed process activities.

Displayed within each block is the status and owner associated with acontent management document or record when the content item and workflowprocess are in that particular stage. Also displayed is an action itemthat triggers progression to another stage in the process. Each of thestages illustrated in FIG. 3 are discussed in greater detail below.

Create Content Stage (Status=Draft, Owner=Author)

During stage 80, a content creator produces a new document. This personis considered the author of the document. As will be discussed ingreater detail below, the author selects appropriate categories fromthose available (typically via controls such as pull-down lists). Thesecategories are used for routing in this content management process andalso for enhancing navigation and search effectiveness. When the contenthas been completed and is ready for review, the author submits(typically via clickable button) the document to a Topic Owner contact(Topic Owner). The author is typically responsible for checking theaccuracy of spelling and grammar in their document in addition toinitially making sure that their document meets some or all legalrequirements (e.g. proper usage of trademarks).

Once the author submits the document, an e-mail is sent to each TopicOwner based on the selected categories for the document. Allnotifications to people who must take action throughout this process aretypically via e-mail, or alternatively, another form of electroniccommunication. The e-mail typically contains a link to the specificcontrol document requiring action.

Major Actions at this Stage

Performed by Author:

-   -   Write content    -   Enter content into system    -   Select content category(ies) (domain specific “areas” for        content)    -   Enter title, summary and keywords    -   Enter publication date    -   Answer questions regarding trademark and other legal issues    -   Submit content for review (click submit button)        Performed by Application:    -   Identify author and populate appropriate fields (userid, etc.)    -   Identify current date and populate field    -   Create unique document number and populate field    -   Determine topic owner(s) (based on categories) and populate        field    -   Add appropriate synonyms for keywords entered by author    -   Determine next review and expiration dates and populate field    -   Determine if legal review is necessary    -   Identify next reviewer (based on workflow logic and author        selections)    -   Send e-mail notification to next reviewer    -   Log names and actions for all parties involved in workflow        process        Topic Owner Review Stage (Status=Review, Owner=Topic Owner)

In stage 82, one or more topic owner reviewers ensure appropriatetechnical content of specific topics or categories. The reviewers forthe specified functional area are responsible for technical accuracy,elimination or avoidance of duplicate information, contentappropriateness for that category, adherence to the overall web pagedesign and structure, etc. A set of questions to determine the necessityof legal review, answered by the author, can also be altered at thediscretion of the reviewer. Based on those questions, the process willflow either to legal review stage 84 or content validation stage 86. Ifa content file is rejected by a topic owner, the file may also bereturned to the author and the status returned to draft.

Major Actions at this Stage

Performed by Topic Owner:

-   -   Review content    -   Override application logic to force legal review if desired        Performed by Application:    -   Log “reviewer” information and determine next actions (based on        previous user selections)    -   Send e-mail notification(s)        Legal Review Stage (Status=Legal, Owner=Legal Manager)

In block 84, a review is performed by a lawyer or other appropriateentity to ensure adherence to desired legal guidelines, in regards tousage of trademarks, registered names, product or performance claims,confidential information, etc. After a document has been approved by thelegal manager, it is then forwarded to the content validation stage 86.If not approved, the document can be returned to draft status forfurther action by the author.

Major Actions at this Stage

Performed by Legal Manager:

-   -   Evaluate content for adherence to legal guidelines        Performed by Application:    -   Log “reviewer” information and determine next action.    -   Send e-mail notification to next action owner.        Content Validation Stage (Status=Develop, Owner=Developer)

In block 86, the input supplied by the author is validated for accuracyby a development team member. In addition, an initial determination ismade by a development team member as to whether additional HTML codingis required (given some authors may perform all necessary coding). Ifcoding is needed, web development activities occur as shown in block 92,and once the HTML coding is complete, the process progresses to acontent approval stage (block 88). Otherwise, if no coding is required,progress to content approval stage may occur directly from block 86.

In block 92, developers will code the document in HTML for webpublication, or possibly just verify proper coding if an author haschosen to write their own code. At this stage, if meta data has not beengenerated for the document, meta data is automatically generated by thesystem. This meta data provides machine readable attributes specific forthe current document. Meta data greatly enhances search capabilities andprovides information necessary for ongoing review and maintenance of thecontent. The meta data may be generated at other stages, andfurthermore, alternative information, as well as data structures, may beused to store such information.

Major Actions at this Stage

Performed by Developer:

-   -   Write HTML (or other web page rendering programming code) to        enable serving the content as desired by the author        Performed by Application:    -   Build meta data for web page in desired format with attributes        determined or derived from input throughout this process.        Content Approval Stage (Status=Approval, Owner=Content Manager)

In block 88, the document is reviewed by a content manager to ensure itsreadiness for publication. This content manager is typically an overall“site” content manager that is responsible for ensuring site consistencyand completeness. If no changes are required, the document can beapproved. The document will then be moved to a status of“Available—Waiting for Promotion” or “Available—Hold”, based uponwhether a publish now or publish later indication was selected in thecontent management document for the content item. While typically animmediate publication is desired, in some instances, e.g., when aproduct announcement or advertising campaign, or new price structure, isplanned for a particular date, withholding publication until aparticular date may be beneficial.

In addition, if an international flag is set in the content managementdocument, one or more country owners is notified via email that aparent, main language document has been approved. The purpose of thisoperation is discussed in greater detail below.

Major Actions at this Stage

Performed by Content Manager:

-   -   Ensure web site standards and overall look and feel are properly        represented        Performed by Application:    -   Determine next action (promote to “live” or hold for future        date)    -   Change status according to action    -   Notify promoter of files to promote to “live”        Promote Files Stage (Status=available—Waiting for Promotion,        Owner=Promoter)

As shown in block 92, once a document is ready to be published to theweb site (promoted), an e-mail with appropriate detailed information issent to the database administrator, or another promoter (possibly thesame entity as the development team), with instructions to move thisdocument into “live” production. At this time, the appropriate contentfiles or items specified in the associated content management documentare copied from the test server where they initially reside to thestaging server. As discussed above, thereafter the update agent willcopy the files to the production server at its next synchronizationinterval. Moreover, an email is sent to the author to notify him or herthat the content has been published.

Block 92 may either be entered via stage 88, or alternatively, if an“available—hold” status is assigned to a document, a separate, holdagent (one of database agents 74, and discussed below in connection withFIG. 11) is used to initiate content promotion at an appropriate time.When in “available—hold” status, a document remains in that status untilthe date that was specified in the “Web Publication Date” field isreached. On the specified date, the document then moves to“available—Waiting for Promotion”, and block 92 is initiated.

Major Actions at this Stage

Performed by person:

-   -   Physically move content files from the test server to the        staging server (This step could be alternatively be performed        automatically by the content management system)        Performed by Update Agent:    -   On a predetermined schedule, move the specified files from the        staging server to the production server and update the content        management document upon completion to show “Promoted” status    -   Send e-mail notification to Author that files are now “live”        Content Management Document Format

As discussed above, in the illustrated embodiment, a content managementdocument is implemented in the form of a Lotus Notes document that isshared among the various entities that collaborate on a particular website content item. In addition, groupware messaging (i.e., email) isused to notify different entities as the content management processprogresses. FIGS. 4A-4C, for example, illustrate an exemplary controlmanagement document 100 consistent with the invention. In this document,text descriptions, input fields, buttons, drop-down lists, and otheruser input controls are integrated with associated program code (allcreated in the Lotus Notes development language) to provide thefunctionality described herein.

Document 100 includes a header 101 that includes a field 102 including adocument identifier that unique identifies the content managementdocument. Field 104 stores the author of the associated content item(s)being managed by document 100, and field 106 stores the creation datefor document 100. The ability to change the author (and thus, whoreceives future notifications directed to an author) is supportedthrough a control 108.

Fields 110 and 112 respectively store the current status and date of thelast status change, while fields 114 and 116 respectfully store thecategory assigned to the document and the topic owner for that category.Field 118 stores an identifier (e.g., Notes address) for the entity fromwhich the next action is required. Field 120 includes a field 120 thatstores pointers or links to any secondary language documents associatedwith document 100 (discussed below).

Dispersed throughout document 100 are one or more help/instructionbuttons 122 used to provide help information for an entity that isaccessing the document. In addition, a radio button control 124 isprovided to query an entity as to whether the document is related to a“special processing” content item. In connection with a specialprocessing item, alternate functionality (e.g., special defaults,special input fields, constrained input options, etc.) may be defined tohandle special circumstances. For example, where a major product releaseis contemplated, it may be useful to define a default publication dateso that any content items associated with the product will be publishedon the same day. Other situations that might warrant special processingmight includes marketing campaigns, special events such as businessshows and seminars, urgent items, etc.

After header 101, a number of field groups 125, 132, 142, 160, 170, 190,194, 198, and 210 may be provided, with each field group representing asequential “step” taken by an author when inputting the necessarycontent management information.

Field groups 125 and 132, for example, request topic area information,thus defining the topic owners that require notification and approval inthe workflow process. Field group 125 includes a primary topic stored infield 126, an industry topic stored in field 128 and a country liststored in field 130. Field group 132 includes a list of other topics infield 134, as well as a number of yes/no radio buttons 136, 138 and 140that respectfully note whether the content is associated with a shoppingsite, a system sales site, and a business partner information site.

Through the combination of fields in groups 125 and 132, a number oftopics/categories are associated with content items managed by thedocument. In addition, through preset association of topics andcategories with specific topic owners (defined elsewhere in the contentmanagement system), a list of entities from which review and approval isrequired can be generated. Thus, during the review stage, document 100is analyzed to determine which entities must be notified of a content,and which must provide approval prior to promotion of the content. Itshould be noted that the list and stratification of topics shown indocument 100 is specific to the particular implementation disclosedherein, and may vary for different applications, or where differententities have different responsibilities for web site content.

Field group 142 includes a number of fields that provide descriptiveinformation about content being managed by the document. Field 144provides a short title, and field 146 provides a short summary. Field148 provides one or more keywords that are searchable through the LotusNotes search facilities, and field 150 stores an international flag thatindicates whether the content is world wide in scope, and needs approvaland/or customization from entities in other countries or regions. Asdiscussed above, the state stored in field 150 is used when determiningwhether to initiate an international review process. Moreover, field 148is typically manually filled with keywords, although in someimplementations synonyms to manually selected keywords may automaticallybe added to the field by the application.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4B, field group 160 permits publication, review,and expiration dates to be specified by an author or other entity. Field162, for example, specifies whether content is to be published(promoted) immediately upon approval, or at a specific date afterapproval is obtained. Field 164 stores the relevant publication datewhether a specific date is specified in field 162. Field 166 stores areview date, specifying when an expiration process will begin so that anauthor will reinstitute review of an existing document. Field 168 storesan expiration date, defined after the review date, defining when contentitems will be removed from the web site if review is not completed in atimely fashion. Any of fields 164-168 may be constrained to certainranges if desired.

Field group 170 provides a number of queries that assist an author indetermining whether legal review is required. Field 172 queries whetherthe content is already approved by legal, and field 174 stores the nameof the entity completing such a review. Fields 176, 178, 180, 182 and184 ask a number of questions pertaining to potential liability risksposed by content, e.g., whether comparative claims are being made,whether confidential information is being disclosed, whether performanceclaims are being made, whether unannounced information is beingreleased, and whether market share or other competitive data is beingreleased. Logic in the application take the answers to these queries todetermine whether legal review is required, e.g., if any of queries176-184 has a “yes” result and legal review has not yet been obtained.

Field groups 190 and 194 enable content to be associated with anidentified file within the content management document. Field group 190includes a field 192 where the specific content files being added,changed or deleted are identified. Field 196 permits an author tospecify the content changes being made (predominantly for where existingcontent is being modified).

Field group 198 includes a comment field 200 that maintains a runningdialog between team members throughout the review process, e.g., soreviewers can inform an author of modifications that are required, amongother collaborative purposes. Typically, each entry in field 200includes a user name, timestamp, and comment. An entity is also able toadd a new content manually through interaction with button 202.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4C, field group 210 provides a number of fields212, 214 and 216 that store contact information for the author, inparticular an external phone number, internal phone line, and faxnumber.

Below field group 210 is provided a region of role-specific controls,which are controllably displayed in the document based upon the “role”of the entity viewing the document at a particular time. These differentrole-specific controls are illustrated in FIGS. 5-10. As shown in FIG.5, for example, the controls displayed to an author includes a “submitfor review” button 250 that is selected when an author wishes to submitthe document for review. Button 252 permits the document to be saved andclosed, without submitting the document for review. Button 254 is anoptional button that permits the author to build a country specific pageor document.

FIG. 6 illustrates the controls presented to a reviewer, including an“approve content” button 260 used to note the reviewer's approval of thecontent, and an “approve, send to legal” button 262 used to note thereviewer's approval, but also forward the document to legal foradditional review (regardless of the status of the queries in fieldgroup 170 of FIG. 4B). Also, a “return to submitter” button 264 is usedto return the document to the author, and return the document status to“draft,” and a “save and close” button 266 is used to save and closewithout changing the current stage or ownership of the document.

FIG. 7 illustrates the controls presented to a developer, including a“submit for approval” button 270 used to pass control to the approvalstage, and a “save and close” button 272 used to save and close withoutchanging the current stage or ownership of the document.

FIG. 8 illustrates the controls presented to a legal manager, includinga “legal approve” button 280 used to note the manager's approval of thecontent, and a “return to submitter” button 282 used to return thedocument to the author, and return the document status to “draft.” A“save and close” button 284 is used to save and close without changingthe current stage or ownership of the document.

FIG. 9 illustrates the controls presented to a content manager,including an “approve, no changes” button 290 used to note the manager'sapproval of the content, and a “return to development” button 292 usedto return the document to the development team, and return the documentstatus to “develop.” A “reset status” button 294 may also be provided topermit the content manager to return the document to any desired status(e.g., “draft” status). In connection with resetting status, the authoris typically notified via email.

Next, as shown in FIG. 10, a single control, “notify author” button 295,may be presented to a promoter so that the author identified in thedocument can be notified via email when the content associated therewithhas been promoted and published to the web site.

Now returning to FIG. 4C, after the role-specific controls, a generateMETA data button 222 may be provided to generate or regeneratestandardized META data for any content item associated with thedocument, with the META data storing relevant content managementinformation stored in the document, as shown in field 224. For example,it may be desirable to add META tags for title, summary, abstract,keywords, review date, author, security information, expiration date,industries, document number, contact, last update date, creation date,country code, language code, and other data as may be deemed necessary.It will be appreciated that such data generation typically incorporateslittle more than simply extracting desired information from document 100and generating properly formatted tags therefrom. However, it isdesirable to ensure that only automated META data generation issupported, so that all content items will have similarly-formatted METAregions, thus permitting global search and replace operations and thelike.

Field 226 provides an input for the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) forthe content file and/or root directory therefor on the test server.Field 228 provides an input for a list of all content items or filesassociated with document 100, which is in contrast to field 192 (FIG.4B), which only lists those items or files that have been modified froma previous version of the content.

Document 100 also includes an activity log region 230, including logentries 232, 236, 238, 240 and 242 to log the respective activities ofthe author (submitter), topic owner(s), legal manager, developer, andcontent manager. Each entry typically includes the identity or user nameof the entity associated with the entity, and a date/timestampindicating the time and day of the logged entry.

It will be appreciated that different formats and combination ofinformation, input fields and user interface controls may be integratedinto a content management document or record consistent with theinvention. For example, while not explicitly shown in FIGS. 4A-4C,document 100 may also include one or more active links to the contentitems covered thereby, e.g., so that an entity opening document 100 canquickly access the content at issue. Thus, the invention is not limitedto the particular implementation of document 100 as shown herein.

Available—Hold Publication Process

Returning to FIG. 3, whenever a predetermined publication date isdesired for a particular content item, it may be desirable to specifysuch a date in the content management document associated therewith. Inconnection with the specified date, the content management system isconfigured to set the document to a status of “available—hold” afterfinal approval but prior to the publication date. To enable timelypublication, a hold agent 300, illustrated in greater detail in FIG. 11,is provided as one of the database agents.

Hold agent 300 operates by periodically polling all documents having an“available—hold” status to detect those documents that have reachedtheir appropriate publication dates. As such, agent 300 may beconsidered to operate in a loop 302 that periodically scans through allcontent management documents in the system. For each such document,block 304 determines whether its status is “available—hold.” If not,control returns to block 302 to process other documents. Otherwise,control passes to block 306 to determine whether the current date is thesame as the publication date stored in the document. If so, block 308 isexecuted to notify the promoter to promote the content associated withthe document, and to set the status of the document to“available—waiting for promotion”. Control then passes to block 302 toprocess additional documents. If the current date is not the same as thepublication date, block 308 is bypassed, and control passes directly toblock 302. Once all documents have been processed, block 302 passescontrol to block 310 to wait for a next monitoring interval (e.g., thenext day), then scanning of all documents is restarted for the nextinterval.

Document Review and Expiration Process

Returning again to FIG. 3, once a document is moved to“Available—Promoted,” the document is published to the web site and canremain published without review (without any editing being done to it)for a specified period of time (e.g., a maximum of 1 year). The reviewdate can be set as appropriate for each document. If the documentremains untouched (that is, no editing has been done to it) past thereview date, the document then enters an expiration process that lastsanother set period of time. This is a separate workflow process specificto the review and maintenance of this content, and is managed by anadditional pair of agents, review agent 320 of FIG. 12 and expiringagent 340 of FIG. 13.

Within the expiration process, the document will typically not beremoved from its designated web site(s). However, the document isreturned to the author to take immediate action. Once the author startsto take action on the document, the status of the control document isreverted to “draft” (in the workflow process only), thus starting thereview and approval process as described above.

During this stage, the author will typically receive periodic e-mailnotifications until they complete the update, to warn them that theirdocument is in danger of being deleted if action isn't promptly taken.If the author does not take appropriate action in a specified timeframe, the Reviewer (Topic Owner) may also be notified. This is toensure proper action is taken, even if the author is unresponsive.

If no action is taken on an expiring document for the maximum expirationperiod, it is subject to deletion.

FIG. 12 illustrates the operation of one embodiment of review agent 320in greater detail. Review agent 320 operates by periodically polling alldocuments having an “available—promoted” status to detect thosedocuments that have reached their appropriate review dates. As such,agent 320 may be considered to operate in a loop 322 that periodicallyscans through all content management documents in the system. For eachsuch document, block 324 determines whether its status is“available—promoted.” If not, control returns to block 322 to processother documents. Otherwise, control passes to block 326 to determinewhether the current date is the same as the review date stored in thedocument. If so, block 328 is executed to notify the author and initiatea review process and essentially “re-certify” the content. Control thenpasses to block 322 to process additional documents. If the current dateis not the same as the review date, block 328 is bypassed, and controlpasses directly to block 322. Once all documents have been processed,block 322 passes control to block 330 to wait for a next monitoringinterval (e.g., the next day), then scanning of all documents isrestarted for the next interval.

FIG. 13 illustrates the operation of one embodiment of expiring agent340 in greater detail. Expiring agent 340 operates by periodicallypolling all documents currently in the review process initiated by agent320, and performing actions at different points in time to encouragecompletion of the reviews in a timely fashion. As such, agent 340 may beconsidered to operate in a loop 342 that periodically scans through allcontent management documents in the system. For each such document,block 344 determines whether a review process initiated for thatdocument (if any) has been completed. If so, control returns to block342 to process other documents. Otherwise, control passes to block 346to determine whether the current date is the same as an author reminderdate for the document. If so, block 348 is executed to remind the author(e.g., via a reminder email). Control then returns to block 342 toprocess additional documents.

If the current date is not the same as the author reminder date, block346 passes control to block 350 to determine whether the current date isthe same as a reviewer reminder date for the document. If so, block 352is executed to notify the reviewer of the status of the non-review(e.g., via an email). Control then returns to block 342 to processadditional documents.

If the current date is not the same as the reviewer reminder date, block350 passes control to block 354 to determine whether the current date isthe same as an expiration date stored in the document. If so, block 356is executed to notify the promoter to remove the now-expired contentitems from the production server (e.g., by removing them from thestaging server prior to a synchronization operation). Control thenreturns to block 342 to process additional documents. If block 354results in a “no” result, block 356 is bypassed, and control returnsdirectly to block 342. Once all documents have been processed, block 342passes control to block 358 to wait for a next monitoring interval(e.g., the next day), then scanning of all documents is restarted forthe next interval.

In the illustrated embodiment, the review and expiration dates are setby the author or another entity and stored in the content managementdocument. One or more author and reviewer reminder dates, however, aretypically derived from these stored dates. For example, one authorreminder may be scheduled for delivery 7 days after the review date, andone reviewer reminder may be scheduled for delivery 14 days after thereview date. In the alternative, any of the dates described herein maybe derived or independently controlled in various embodiments.

International Process

Along with the aforementioned stages discussed above, it may also bedesirable to incorporate an international process for content that isdeemed as potential for country-specific updates. Authors can indicatein their submission (and later in the process a reviewer can modify)whether or not the content should be routed to selected country ownersassociated with various countries, regions, or languages around theworld. The country owners will receive the content and route it todevelopers in their respective country (or the same developer team usedin the primary language document) for purposes of marking it up (inHTML) and translating it into an appropriate country's national language(if necessary).

Countries or regions may be defined by political boundaries, enterprisedistribution or business group boundaries, language boundaries, etc.,and it may or may not be required for a particular country orregion-specific content item to be translated from its native language.In the interest of simplicity, however, the term “country” when usedwith respect to a country page, country document or country owner willbe used to refer to a particular country, region, or language.

In the illustrated implementation, content items associated withdifferent countries are distinguished as parent and child items, wherethe parent relates to a primary country (e.g., the US for a US-basedenterprise), and the child items relate to other countries. The contentmanagement system is configured to link child items to a parent item,and to incorporate functionality that automatically notifies owners ofchild items in response to changes made to a parent item. For example, areview process may be initiated for child items automatically inresponse to a modification to a parent item. The parent and child itemsmay also be considered to be different country versions of the samecontent item in the alternative.

FIG. 14 illustrates one possible implementation of an internationalcontent management system 400 consistent with the invention. As with theembodiment discussed above, system 400 includes a primary countryprocess 402 that supports various stages 404-418 for each contentmanagement document, including a draft stage 404, review stage 406,legal stage 408, develop stage 410, approve stage 412, available—holdstage 414, available—waiting for promotion stage 416 and available(promoted) stage 418.

As represented by the arrow to email 420 from approve stage 412,whenever a content manager approves a content item, if some indicationis noted in the content management document that internationalprocessing is required, an email is initiated to a designated countryowner for each country specified in the content management document. Theindication of the need for international processing may occur, forexample, based upon the information stored in any of fields 120, 130,and 150.

For each country owner, the email sent thereto includes a document link422 that references the original document 430, which is shown related toa main country content file 432. Once the country owner, or even theoriginal author or any other interested party decides that acounty-specific content file is needed, a create child process 434 isinitiated on the original document, resulting in the creation of a childdocument 440. Child and parent document numbers 442 and 444 link therespective parent and child documents.

Once a child document is created, some form of local translation process446 is performed to conform the original content to a format that isappropriate for the specific country. Such conformance may includinglanguage translation, currency and measurement unit conversion, look andfeel formatting, each of which including manual and/or automatedprocesses. The result of process 446 is translated content 448maintained in relation to child document 440.

Once the translated content is created and the child document isauthored as with the original document, a submit process 450 isinitiated by a content owner or author to forward the child document onfor country-specific review 452. Moreover, based upon whether a legalreview is required, a country-specific legal review 454 may also beperformed. The child document may then be transitioned to the developstage 410 for formatting by a web development team.

Another key aspect of international support is the ability to link mainand alternate country-specific content so that an update to the maincontent can initiate, in the least, notification of a country owner, andoptionally, automated initiation of a review process for anycountry-specific content. Thus, for example, if a main country contentitem is detected as being modified, it may be desirable to automaticallynotify any country owners identified in the associated document. Such anotification may be initiated in response to the return of a contentitem to a non-promoted status, or may be deferred until the content itemis actually modified. A review process similar to that shown in blocks452 and 454 of FIG. 14 may therefore be initiated in each appropriatecountry.

Various additional modifications will be apparent to one of ordinaryskill in the art. Therefore, the invention lies in the claimshereinafter appended.

1. A method of managing content in a content-controlled database, themethod comprising: (a) linking a content management record to a contentitem to be incorporated into a content-controlled database, the contentmanagement record storing content management information associated withthe content item; (b) processing the content item through a plurality ofstages of a content management process, including updating the contentmanagement information stored in the content management record duringeach stage of the content management process, wherein the plurality ofstages includes at least one review stage during which approval of thecontent item is obtained; and (c) promoting the content item as a resultof the content management process such that the content item is useraccessible from the content-controlled database, including updating thecontent management information stored in the content management recordto indicate that the content item has been promoted; and (d) initiatingan update review process after the content item has been promoted,wherein initiating the update review process includes initiatingdemotion of the content item a time period after the update reviewprocess has been initiated if the update review process has not yet beencompleted.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the content managementrecord comprises a groupware document.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinlinking the content management record to the content item includesstoring an identifier for the content item in the content managementrecord.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein linking the content managementrecord to the content item includes storing an identifier for thecontent management record in the content item.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising storing content management information from thecontent management document in the content item.
 6. The method of claim5, wherein storing content management information in the content itemcomprises generating meta data and adding the meta data to the contentitem.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the content management record isfurther linked to a second content item in the content-controlleddatabase.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the content-controlleddatabase comprises a web site accessible via the Internet.
 9. The methodof claim 1, wherein updating the content management information storedin the content management record during each stage of the contentmanagement process includes updating a status in the content managementrecord that is associated with a current stage of the content managementprocess.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of stagesincludes a draft stage during which an author inputs content managementinformation into the content management record.
 11. The method of claim1, wherein the plurality of stages includes a topic review stage duringwhich at least one topic owner associated with a topic reviews thecontent item based upon such topic.
 12. The method of claim 1, whereinthe plurality of stages includes a legal review stage during which atleast one legal entity reviews the content item based upon legalrequirements.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of stagesincludes a country review stage during which at least onecountry-related entity reviews the content item based uponcountry-specific requirements.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein theplurality of stages includes an approval stage during which a contentmanager having responsibility for all of the content in thecontent-controlled database reviews the content item.
 15. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the plurality of stages includes a develop stage duringwhich the content item is formatted for inclusion in thecontent-controlled database.
 16. The method of claim 1, whereinprocessing the content item through the content management processincludes returning the content item to an earlier stage in the contentmanagement process in response to non-approval of the content itemduring the review stage.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein the contentmanagement process is performed by a group of entities, wherein selectedentities are responsible for various stages of the content managementprocess, and wherein processing the content item through the contentmanagement process includes, at each stage in the content managementprocess, notifying the entity responsible for such stage.
 18. The methodof claim 17, wherein notifying each entity comprises sending such entityan electronic message.
 19. The method of claim 1, wherein promoting thecontent item includes copying the content item to a web server.
 20. Themethod of claim 19, wherein copying the content item to the web serverincludes copying the content item to a staging server, the methodfurther comprising copying the content item from the staging server to aproduction server automatically during automatic synchronization of thestaging and production servers.
 21. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising, after approval of the content item, deferring promotion ofthe content item until a predetermined date identified in the contentmanagement record.
 22. The method of claim 21, wherein deferringpromotion of the content item until the predetermined date identified inthe content management record includes: (a) periodically comparing acurrent date against the predetermined date identified in the contentmanagement record after approval of the content item is obtained; and(b) promoting the content item when the current date matches thepredetermined date identified in the content management record.
 23. Themethod of claim 1, wherein initiating the update review process includesnotifying an author associated with the content item.
 24. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising, after promotion of the content item,periodically comparing a current date with an update review dateidentified in the content management record, wherein initiating theupdate review process is performed in response to the current datematching the update review date identified in the content managementrecord.
 25. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating the update reviewprocess includes reminding the author a time period after the updatereview process has been initiated if the update review process has notyet been completed.
 26. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating theupdate review process includes reminding a reviewer a time period afterthe update review process has been initiated if the update reviewprocess has not yet been completed.
 27. The method of claim 1, whereinthe content item is a parent content item, the method further comprisingautomatically initiating a review of a child content item linked to theparent content item in response to modification of the parent contentitem.
 28. The method of claim 27, wherein the parent content isassociated with at least one of a first country, a first region, and afirst language, and wherein the child content item is associated with atleast one of a second country, a second region, and a second language.29. The method of claim 27, wherein the content management document is aparent content management document, the method further comprisingbuilding a child content management document linked to the child contentitem using at least a portion of the content management information inthe parent content management document.
 30. A method of managing contentin a content-controlled database, the method comprising: (a) linking acontent management record to a content item to be incorporated into acontent-controlled database, the content management record storingcontent management information associated with the content item; (b)processing the content item through a plurality of stages of a contentmanagement process, including updating the content managementinformation stored in the content management record during each stage ofthe content management process, wherein the plurality of stages includesat least one review stage during which approval of the content item isobtained; and (c) promoting the content item as a result of the contentmanagement process such that the content item is user accessible fromthe content-controlled database, including updating the contentmanagement information stored in the content management record toindicate that the content item has been promoted; wherein promoting thecontent item includes copying the content item to a web server, andwherein copying the content item to the web server includes copying thecontent item to a staging server, the method further comprising copyingthe content item from the staging server to a production serverautomatically during automatic synchronization of the staging andproduction servers.
 31. The method of claim 30, wherein the plurality ofstages includes a draft stage during which an author inputs contentmanagement information into the content management record.
 32. Themethod of claim 30, wherein the plurality of stages includes a topicreview stage during which at least one topic owner associated with atopic reviews the content item based upon such topic.
 33. The method ofclaim 30, wherein the plurality of stages includes a legal review stageduring which at least one legal entity reviews the content item basedupon legal requirements.
 34. The method of claim 30, wherein theplurality of stages includes a country review stage during which atleast one country-related entity reviews the content item based uponcountry-specific requirements.
 35. The method of claim 30, wherein theplurality of stages includes an approval stage during which a contentmanager having responsibility for all of the content in thecontent-controlled database reviews the content item.
 36. The method ofclaim 30, wherein the plurality of stages includes a develop stageduring which the content item is formatted for inclusion in thecontent-controlled database.
 37. A method of managing content in acontent-controlled database, the method comprising: (a) linking acontent management record to a content item to be incorporated into acontent-controlled database, the content management record storingcontent management information associated with the content item; (b)processing the content item through a plurality of stages of a contentmanagement process, including updating the content managementinformation stored in the content management record during each stage ofthe content management process, wherein the plurality of stages includesat least one review stage during which approval of the content item isobtained; (c) promoting the content item as a result of the contentmanagement process such that the content item is user accessible fromthe content-controlled database, including updating the contentmanagement information stored in the content management record toindicate that the content item has been promoted; and (d) after approvalof the content item, deferring promotion of the content item until apredetermined date identified in the content management record.
 38. Themethod of claim 37, wherein deferring promotion of the content itemuntil the predetermined date identified in the content management recordincludes: (a) periodically comparing a current date against thepredetermined date identified in the content management record afterapproval of the content item is obtained; and (b) promoting the contentitem when the current date matches the predetermined date identified inthe content management record.
 39. A method of managing content in acontent-controlled database, the method comprising: (a) linking acontent management record to a content item to be incorporated into acontent-controlled database, the content management record storingcontent management information associated with the content item; (b)processing the content item through a plurality of stages of a contentmanagement process, including updating the content managementinformation stored in the content management record during each stage ofthe content management process, wherein the plurality of stages includesat least one review stage during which approval of the content item isobtained; (c) promoting the content item as a result of the contentmanagement process such that the content item is user accessible fromthe content-controlled database, including updating the contentmanagement information stored in the content management record toindicate that the content item has been promoted; (d) initiating anupdate review process after the content item has been promoted; and (e)after promotion of the content item, periodically comparing a currentdate with an update review date identified in the content managementrecord, wherein initiating the update review process is performed inresponse to the current date matching the update review date identifiedin the content management record.
 40. The method of claim 39, whereinthe plurality of stages includes a draft stage during which an authorinputs content management information into the content managementrecord.
 41. The method of claim 39, wherein the plurality of stagesincludes a topic review stage during which at least one topic ownerassociated with a topic reviews the content item based upon such topic.42. The method of claim 39, wherein the plurality of stages includes alegal review stage during which at least one legal entity reviews thecontent item based upon legal requirements.
 43. The method of claim 39,wherein the plurality of stages includes a country review stage duringwhich at least one country-related entity reviews the content item basedupon country-specific requirements.
 44. The method of claim 39, whereinthe plurality of stages includes an approval stage during which acontent manager having responsibility for all of the content in thecontent-controlled database reviews the content item.
 45. The method ofclaim 39, wherein the plurality of stages includes a develop stageduring which the content item is formatted for inclusion in thecontent-controlled database.
 46. A method of managing content in acontent-controlled database, the method comprising: (a) linking acontent management record to a content item to be incorporated into acontent-controlled database, the content management record storingcontent management information associated with the content item; (b)processing the content item through a plurality of stages of a contentmanagement process, including updating the content managementinformation stored in the content management record during each stage ofthe content management process, wherein the plurality of stages includesat least one review stage during which approval of the content item isobtained; and (c) promoting the content item as a result of the contentmanagement process such that the content item is user accessible fromthe content-controlled database, including updating the contentmanagement information stored in the content management record toindicate that the content item has been promoted; wherein the contentitem is a parent content item, the method further comprisingautomatically initiating a review of a child content item linked to theparent content item in response to modification of the parent contentitem.
 47. The method of claim 46, wherein the parent content isassociated with at least one of a first country, a first region, and afirst language, and wherein the child content item is associated with atleast one of a second country, a second region, and a second language.48. The method of claim 46, wherein the content management document is aparent content management document, the method further comprisingbuilding a child content management document linked to the child contentitem using at least a portion of the content management information inthe parent content management document.
 49. The method of claim 46,wherein the plurality of stages includes a draft stage during which anauthor inputs content management information into the content managementrecord.
 50. The method of claim 46, wherein the plurality of stagesincludes a topic review stage during which at least one topic ownerassociated with a topic reviews the content item based upon such topic.51. The method of claim 46, wherein the plurality of stages includes alegal review stage during which at least one legal entity reviews thecontent item based upon legal requirements.
 52. The method of claim 46,wherein the plurality of stages includes a country review stage duringwhich at least one country-related entity reviews the content item basedupon country-specific requirements.
 53. The method of claim 46, whereinthe plurality of stages includes an approval stage during which acontent manager having responsibility for all of the content in thecontent-controlled database reviews the content item.
 54. The method ofclaim 46, wherein the plurality of stages includes a develop stageduring which the content item is formatted for inclusion in thecontent-controlled database.